Thanksgiving At The Tada’s Table
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and Happy Thanksgiving Day, friend!
And, oh, don’t we have much to be thankful for. It may have been the craziest year on record; you may have experienced hard times because of COVID-19; and your family may still be trying to figure out your new normal, but! But God has brought us through, and he’s given us countless blessings for which to be grateful. Look, you made it to November, to Thanksgiving Day. You’ve survived coronavirus in its various forms. And frankly? Having been sequestered since March, to me, it’s a blessing to be healthy. I’ve been taking anti-cancer medication for a long time now, and I’ve got a PET scan coming up, but I’m still thankful that the side effects of those injections have been minimal. Yeah, the monthly infusions were very painful, but I’m here. I’m sitting up. And as far as I know, I am physically well and free of cancer. My heart is glad. After all, it’s Thanksgiving. My sister-in-law is coming over with her famous green bean casserole, and turkey’s in the oven, and guess what? We’re having Ken Tada’s bologna stuffing! Life, life could not be better.
This Thanksgiving Day’s got me singing:
“There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops ’round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.”
I love that old hymn, and the words are straight out of Scripture. Ezekiel 34, God says, “I will send down showers in season – showers of blessing. The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure… Then [my people] will know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yoke.” Oh, friend, with so great a salvation as we have in Christ, with the health and strength we’ve got, with family and friends around the table, don’t you agree the Lord has broken the bars of the yoke? We are free for Christ has set us free. And although there may be grief and loss – perhaps COVID-19 meant a job loss, or maybe even a death in the family, or financial instability, or crushed dreams as it concerns college. Even with all this, God has showered us with the blessings of his salvation in Christ. Ephesians even says that every spiritual blessing has been poured out upon us, and on this wonderful day, we got every reason to be grateful.
Besides, James chapter 4 says that “What is your life? It’s just a vapor, appearing for a little while, and then vanishing.” So, friend, every day is a gift from God! And this Thanksgiving we’re keeping it simple – casserole, pie, regular turkey using an old Martha Stewart recipe. But no doubt about it, when it comes time to put down the dessert forks and circulate words of thanksgiving around the table, we’ll also be circulating something else – a box of Kleenex. Because all of us, all of us stand gratefully under showers of blessing. What a mercy! Today, I pray that words of gratitude will overflow your heart as you recount back to God your gratitude for his many, many favors this year, difficult as though this year was. Every day’s a gift. And if – if – you have a minute in between checking the turkey and stirring the green beans, I would love to hear what you’re thankful for at joniradio.org. So Happy Thanksgiving from the Tadas and from all of your friends at Joni and Friends.
